First Impressions
by FicFiend
Summary: The Thirteenth Tribe has been found, or rather it stumbled upon the other twelve colonies. See how a reunited humanity deals with the cylons and with their own issues. Lots of action. NO ORI
1. A Chance Encounter

**A/N:** This is a Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica 2003 crossover, much like my previous story Stargates and Battlestars, although this story follows the storyline and spirit of the shows more closely. 

Our story takes place after the fall of the Goa'uld empire, and the formation of the new stable Jaffa Government. Personally, I place this 5 years after season 9. There are NO ORI in this story. Cameron Mitchell has taken command of SG-1, and Jack O'Neill is still a Major General. The Wraith are still running loose in the Pegasus Galaxy, although Atlantis remains intact. The _Galactica_ and the _Pegasus_ are leading the survivors of the genocide through space, Admiral Adama is in command of the fleet an Laura Roslin is President. The Cylons are of course still chasing them. I have taken some liberties with the story line, New Caprica was occupied by the Cylons, and everyone was eventually rescued by the _Galactica_ and the _Pegasus_, however, the _Pegasus_ was NOT destroyed in the battle, just heavily damaged before it jumped away. Baltar has not had a trial, he is merely being held aboard the _Galactica_. Everything else should be explained in the story...enjoy.

**Character List:**

**SG-1:**

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell

Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter

Doctor Daniel Jackson

Teal'c

**Commanders and Generals in the Earth Military:**

Major General Hank Landry (Commander, Stargate Command)

Lieutenant General George Hammond (Commander, Homeworld Security)

Major General Jack O'Neill (Commander, Offworld Operations)

**Atlantis Expedition Team:**

Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Commander, Atlantis)

Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard (Military Commander, Atlantis)

Dr. Rodney McKay (Chief Science Officer, Atlantis)

Dr. Radek Zelenka (Civilian Scientist, Atlantis)

Dr. Carson Beckett (Chief Medical Officer, Atlantis)

Ronan Dex

Teyla Emmagen

**Earth Fleet Personnel:**

Colonel Lionel Pendergast (Commander BC-303 _Prometheus_)

Colonel Steven Caldwell (Commander DSC-304 _Daedalus_)

Colonel Paul Emerson (Commander DSC-304 _Odyssey_)

Colonel Chekov (Commander DSC-304 _Korolev_)

Colonel Abe Ellis (Commander DSC-304 _Apollo_)

Colonel Davidson (Commander BS-305 _Zeus_)

Dr. Lindsey Novak (Chief Engineer, _Daedalus_)

Hermiod (Asgard Engineering Expert/Liaison, _Daedalus_)

Lieutenant Jennifer Hailey (Chief Engineer, _Zeus_)

**Alien Leaders:**

Master Bra'tac (Free Jaffa Representative)

Thor (Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet)

**The 12 Colonies:**

Admiral William 'Bill' Adama (Commander Battlestar _Galactica_)

Commander Lee 'Apollo' Adama (Commander Battlestar _Pegasus_)

Colonel Saul Tigh (Executive Officer Battlestar _Galactica_)

Laura Roslin (President of the Twelve Colonies)

Gaius Baltar (Former President of the Twelve Colonies, Guilty of Treason)

Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace (Battlestar _Galactica_)

Lieutenant Karl 'Helo' Agathon (Battlestar _Galactica_)

Lieutenant Felix Gaeta (Battlestar _Galactica_)

'Chief' Galen Tyrol (Battlestar _Galactica_)

**DISCLAIMER:** All characters above are the property of their respective shows and companies, I do not own any of them. Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica are also not my property. I am making no money with the writing of this fan fiction. If you recognize it, then its not mine.

**Stargate Command:**

Major General Jack O'Neill sat facing the man who had replaced him at the SGC, Major General Hank Landry. Jack had been flown out from Washington, something he was very grateful for, to meet with Landry regarding Offworld operations and the state of Earth's Military. Since the crash of the then X-305, most of the world has been aware, and believed, that the Stargate program existed. The whole affair happened because of an engine failure while the ship had been leaving the atmosphere, not yet free of Earth's gravity, the ship plummeted back towards the surface. Although Colonel Carter and Lieutenant Hailey had been able to get the engines working again, it was too late, the ship crashed. Of course it landed in a massive cornfield operated by a Midwestern farmer. The media was there well before a cover story could be made up, and so the American Public became aware of the program, and its many successes.

There were of course things that had been kept from the global community, mainly, it was everything. The world knew that the United States Air Force was operating a number of programs that previously could only have been dreamt up in a science fiction movie, but they still knew virtually nothing about the programs themselves. It was of course, in the interest of Global Security not to reveal anything about ongoing operations. So the masses remained fairly ignorant of what was actually going on, and they were fairly content to, as long as those things did not impact their daily lives. There was none of the predicted widespread panic across the globe, in fact, recruitments were up in all of the militaries who were feeding their best and brightest into the Offworld programs. Currently, the supply exceeded the demand, with capable officers being notified that they had been place on the 'waiting list', to be assigned to one of the projects.

Jack was brought back from his thoughts when Landry stared asking him questions, "General, what is the status of the _Zeus_?". The _Zeus_ was the name assigned to the BS-305, which had been the X-305 until it was completed.

"It is eighty percent operational." Jack replied, glancing at the file that he had brought with him. "We estimate another few weeks before all the bugs are sorted out, then she, or rather he, will be on active duty.".

"Why the delay?" Landry asked, wondering why the deadline for the ships completion had been overshot again.

"Something about the propulsion." Jack answered, "Carter could explain it better, but she is hard at work with Lt. Hailey fixing the damn thing.".

Landry chuckled before continuing, "I thought the ship would be completed faster, especially without the need for the hangers.". The _Zeus_ was of course the first earth ship that did not carry its own fighters. It was the quintessential ship-of-the-line, and had been made that way due to the relative lack of firepower on the DSC-304s. In short, the Air Force wanted something that could slug it out with a wraith hiveship and come out of it intact. The _Zeus_ was longer than the _Daedalus_ class ships, and outweighed them significantly. Furthermore, without the cumbersome looking hangars, the _Zeus_ was sleeker, even though turrets jutted out of her wider superstructure at every conceivable point. The ship was fitted with forty missile tubes located on top of the hull, the missiles would shoot out and locate their targets, rather than being shot directly at an enemy ship. The Asgard had provided shields, the hyper drive and a large pulsed energy weapon, which shot a beam at, and normally through, and enemy ship. From that first weapon, Carter, and the scientists at Area 51 had developed their own directed energy weapons, which wile being primitive compared to the vastly more powerful Asgard weapon, still allowed the ship to operate with minimal 'primitive projectile weaponry'. The only projectile weapons left were the rail guns, which proved adept at shooting down enemy fighters. The new energy weapons were housed in the numerous turrets on the superstructure, with two barrels sticking out of each turret. The amount firepower contained in the ship was massive, and the Air Force hoped it could stand up to anything thrown at it.

"Thankfully, we aren't being rushed into finishing a ship this time." O'Neill said, alluding to the fact that every new ship had been pressed into combat almost as soon as the paint was dry.

"Yes, thank god for small victories. How are the rest of the 304s coming along?" Landry asked.

"They are in various stages of completion, although I can't tell you which is which yet as the names haven't been picked out. Although the frontrunners are _Icarus_, _Hercules_ and _Athena_." Jack explained.

"No one is going for E_nterprise_ then?" Landry said jokingly, referring to Jack's numerous attempts to get an Earth ship to bear that name.

"That's right, but I'll get one eventually. The Asgard owe me a favor." Jack replied, ending in a look of slight contemplation as he mentally studied his newest idea. The conversation was cut short as the familiar alarms that signaled an incoming wormhole went off, sending both generals to the control room, where SG-1 was just stepping through the event horizon of the stargate.

**Atlantis:**

Chief Science Officer Rodney McKay was currently tinkering with a very large set of control crystals that resided in an even larger console. The console itself was located in a room well below the control tower, but was still very close to the center of the city. Of course, the morning had started off in a wonderful manner, with the entire contraption that he was working on overheating and engaging its protocols to counteract that. The only thing was, Rodney had yet to get it started again. With Zelenka off working on the ZPMs, Rodney's only help was Sheppard, who had made it very clear that he thought the whole affair a waste of time.

"Still no luck?" Sheppard asked with no disappointment in his voice.

"Of course not." Rodney snapped, "But all of your 'help' has certainly been appreciated."

"Well, I thought that for the man who blew up three quarters of a solar system, starting a stupid computer would be easy." Sheppard quipped as he leaned against another console nearby.

"First of all, I stand by the fact that it was five sixths of a solar system, and second, this is not a computer, it is something more." McKay replied, still working feverishly to restart the ancient device.

"Whatever Rodney," Sheppard said, leaning over onto the offending console, "I'm going to get some...".

Whatever Sheppard intended to get was cut off as the console lit up, no doubt from the strong presence of the ATA gene in the colonel's DNA. Rodney hastily closed the access panel and looked at the large screen that had also lit up above the console itself. It revealed a map much like the one that the team had been shown in their initial visit to Atlantis, the Pegasus galaxy, with red planets being wraith, and blue being those still controlled by the ancients. This map however, showed another part of the galaxy, with only one planet known to have been colonized by the ancients themselves. It was also different in the fact that there was no translation to English, in fact, there was no name at all.

"Now where is that?" Sheppard asked curiously.

"The other part of the Pegasus galaxy." McKay answered, "By that I mean that it is located in the other dwarf galaxy that makes up the Pegasus constellation.".

"Okay, then the question is, can we get there?" Sheppard asked, ignoring the scientific facts as well as he could.

"Of course we can get there, its just a matter of time." McKay answered again as he rushed from the room to share this new information with Dr. Weir.

**Stargate Command:**

In the briefing room a few levels above the gate room, Jack sat and listened to Daniel talk about yet another tablet that had been discovered on their most recent mission. "So what exactly does the tablet refer to?" Jack finally asked.

"A new colony in the other dwarf galaxy that makes up the Pegasus constellation. One that would repopulate the stars and restart the ancient civilization." Daniel explained in an excited voice.

"Another lost city?" Jack questioned in a slightly aggravated tone.

"More like a lost planet." Daniel replied, "That is, unless the ancients are still there, biding their time. Or, more likely, they have died out there as well, but left something behind.".

"It could be worth looking into sir." Carter interjected, thinking of the knowledge that could potentially be stored on that planet.

"Do the two of you know where this planet is?" Jack again asked, seriously considering an expedition that had the benefit of not starting with his brain being reorganized by an ancient device.

"Umm, no." Daniel answered reluctantly.

"No?" Jack retorted.

"Daniel doesn't, but someone else does." Mitchell said as he entered the room and handed a sheet of paper to O'Neill, who quickly read it and passed it to Carter.

"McKay is going to be unbearable." she muttered as she read the report from Atlantis.

"Well, pack your stuff. I'm guessing that Hammond will have you four on the next ship bound for Atlantis." Jack said as he leaned back in his chair. Daniel's smile only widened at the prospect of his second trip to the ancient city. It was true that the archeologist had eventually made it to Atlantis, but his visit had been cut short by trouble in his home galaxy.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

The Battlestars _Galactica_ and _Pegasus_ lead their ragtag fleet away from the Temple Of Jupiter, and towards, or rather in the general direction that they perceived earth to be. Admiral Adama stood next to his longtime friend Colonel Saul Tigh as they heard reports on the status of the fleet. After the escape from New Caprica, in which the _Pegasus_ was severely damaged, the ships in the fleet were being repaired piecemeal. "Commander Adama is on the horn for you admiral." said Lt. Felix Gaeta, the ships communication officer, who had recently been acquitted of the charge of treason for helping the Cylons during their occupation of New Caprica.

"Thank you Mr. Gaeta." Adama said as he picked up the heavy phone. "Lee." he said simply to his son in greeting.

"Admiral." Lee said back from the Pegasus.

"How are the repairs going?" the Admiral asked.

"Better than we hoped, the forward batteries are ready to go and both flight pods have been fully repaired.".

"That's good to hear, when will the _Pegasus_ be ready to fight again?" Bill asked.

"Sooner rather than later, at least the way things are going now." Lee answered.

"Excellent, keep me posted." Adama said before putting the phone down and returning to the news about the fleet.

"Will _Pegasus_ be ready the next time the Cylons take a run at us?" asked a concerned Colonel Tigh.

"She will be ready." Adama answered simply as he stared at the DRADIS monitor that showed the friendly green symbols that he knew to be the fleet.

**Raptor Patrol:**

Captain Kara 'Starbuck' sat in the pilots chair of her colonial raptor as she drifted well behind the fleet, waiting to see if the Cylons jumped into the system. She was sitting with two rather untrained pilots, they were so new that she in fact had failed to even learn their names on what was becoming a rather long mission. The raptor continued to drift, its FTL drive was powered up, ready to leave at a moments notice if the Cylons did in fact jump to their position. "Another ship just jumped into the system." came the shout from the back of the raptor, where all of the surveillance equipment was kept.

Starbuck stopped herself for berating the new trainee, the new ship was the next raptor that would be relieving them, it was exactly on time. "Contact is a colonial raptor." the same man said again a moment later, causing Starbuck to roll her eyes in annoyance before firing up the FTL drive and jumping to the fleets position.

**Stargate Command:**

The next morning, SG-1 was again sitting in the briefing room with O'Neill and Landry. "Good morning everyone." O'Neill said brightly, causing Teal'c to raise one eyebrow in surprise and slight annoyance. "Now I'm sure you all are wondering why you have been dragged back here so soon.".

"The thought had crossed my mind." Mitchell said as he raised his large cup of coffee.

"Well, you all need to get aboard the Apollo, which will join the rest of the fleet at Atlantis for the trip to this new planet." O'Neill said with a large grin.

"The entire fleet!" Sam exclaimed.

"Yup, the guy leading the expedition wasn't sure what you could find out there, so he is bringing every ship we have." O'Neill replied, his smile growing slightly larger.

"Who is leading the expedition Jack?" Daniel asked.

"Me of course." Jack answered, earning stunned looks from his former team mates.

"You?" Mitchell asked, plainly surprised.

"Who better than the head of offworld operations?" Jack asked rhetorically.

"But the whole fleet. Sir..." Sam started.

"Carter, we have four new ships that will be completed in a fairly short amount of time. The Goa'uld have been scattered, and the Jaffa are sorting out their own issues. Plus, Thor said the Asgard would keep an eye on the place for us.".

"The Asgard?" Carter sputtered.

"The very ones, Thor stopped by last night, he plans to accompany us and said that it was only fair that the _Hammond_ stay in orbit for protection." O'Neill answered.

"The _Hammond_?" Daniel exclaimed.

"Yeah, named for our former commander. You remember, big guy, lacked hair." Jack quipped.

"When do we leave O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, cutting off the conversation.

"As soon as you all are ready." Jack answered before getting up and abruptly leaving the briefing room. Daniel was the next to hurry out, excited at the prospect of going on the expedition. Teal'c followed on his heels, leaving a still stunned Carter in his wake. Mitchell walked out after a minute of contemplation, leaving Carter to snap out of it and join them in gathering anything they would need on their journey.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

Hours later, O'Neill stood next to Colonel Ellis, who was supervising the launch of his ship. Carter was going over some readouts in the corner of the bridge while Teal'c and Daniel continued to move a very large collection of Books that Daniel had deemed essential to the trip. Mitchell, still a pilot at heart had just finished supervising the loading of the 16 F-302 fighters that the _Apollo_ carried. After a few more minutes, Thor beamed directly on to the bridge and the _Apollo_ was ready to depart. "All hands, prepare to jump to hyperspace." Colonel Ellis said over the loudspeaker. The hyperspace window opened without incident, and their journey to Atlantis began.

"How long is it going to take to reach the city?" Mitchell asked as he entered the bridge.

"A little less than four days, with the ZPM powering the ship." Carter answered as she sat in a technicians chair.

"Thor, buddy. Not that I don't want you, but why did you decide to come?" O'Neill asked the diminutive alien who now sat in his own chair that he had beamed onto the Apollo in.

"The Asgard high council has decided that the time has come to play a more active role in the development of the fifth race." Thor answered.

"The fifth race?" Mitchell asked.

"Yes, your kind has shown amazing potential, we wish to help you realize it." Thor answered as his large eyes centered themselves on Mitchell.

"You have never called us that before." Carter interjected.

"True, last time we spoke your future was uncertain. But now, you have liberated one galaxy from oppression, a feat that the Asgard were unable to manage, and you have discovered the lost city of Atlantis. Not only discovered it, but risked another war with another powerful enemy to do what you knew was right. You have truly earned your place as the fifth race." Thor clarified, to the astonishment of those present on the bridge.

"Daniel will be sorry that he missed all of that." Jack declared with a very large smile.

"Indeed." Teal'c said from the doorway, where he had remained hidden during the previous conversation.

"O'Neill," Thor said, "If you do not mind, I would like to take a look at the Asgard systems in this vessel.".

"No problem at all." Jack said, getting up and leading Thor from the bridge.

After they were gone, Colonel Ellis spoke up, "I'm not sure I like this alien messing around in my ship.".

Sam's head turned, her eyes slightly wide with astonishment at the colonel's words, "Thor is the supreme commander of the Asgard fleet for a reason Colonel, and the systems he is going to be 'messing around with' are Asgard systems anyway. Thor may be able to upgrade them in some way.".

"As long as General O'Neill keeps an eye on him I guess its fine with me." Ellis conceded grudgingly before going back to the diagnostics of the ship he was double checking.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

"Its been nearly a week since we have had any contact with the Cylons." Admiral Adama said aloud as he sat in his quarters aboard what had become the flagship of the small fleet. Starbuck had been in command of most of the trailing raptor missions, and so far, nothing had popped up. It was if the Cylons had disappeared, or at least lost track of the fleet for a small period of time. It was more likely that they were still going over the ruins of the Temple Of Five, and had yet to take up the chase with _Galactica_. Just then, the phone on his desk began to ring. Picking it up, Adama recognized the voice of his XO come over the line.

"Bill, I think you better get up here." Tigh said before cutting the connection.

Adama got to his feet, buttoning up his uniform as he did so, and walked to the CIC. "What do you have for me Saul?" he asked.

"We seem to have jumped to another inhabitable planet." Tigh said, casting a dark look at the man who had done the calculations for the last jump.

"No DRADIS contact?" Adama asked again, staring at the screen that once again, showed only his ships.

"Not a thing." Tigh answered.

"Send a raptor down to the planet, visual search for anything we can use." Adama ordered.

Minutes later, Lt. Agathon fired up the engines on his raptor. Slipping into the atmosphere of the planet, he still detected no Cylon presence. As he passed through the clouds however, he saw the ruins of what appeared to have been a very advanced city. There was a large tower in the middle, surrounded by 5 'arms' that jutted out in a star like pattern. "_Galactica_, Helo." he said, waiting for confirmation of his transmission.

"Go ahead Helo." he heard back almost immediately.

"I have some ruins on the surface, looks to be pretty advanced before they were wiped out. No Cylon presence detected." he reported.

"Understood, find a place to set down and the other raptors will follow you in." Galactica ordered.

"Understood." Helo acknowledged simply before landing the raptor just outside of the ruins.

**Atlantis:**

By the time that the _Galactica_ had stumbled upon the uninhabited planet, the Apollo was dropping out of hyperspace in orbit of Lantea, the name given to the planet that Atlantis was on. The rest of the fleet was there, already waiting for her. _Odyssey_, _Daedalus_, _Koralev_, and the _Prometheus_ all sat in orbit. :This is general O;Neill.: Jack said, broadcasting to each ship in the fleet. "_Koralev_ will remain in orbit around Atlantis to protect against any Wraith attack. _Prometheus_ will be on point, the rest of us will follow slightly behind, so Colonel, whenever you're ready." Jack announced, referring to Colonel Pendergast on the _Prometheus_. Moments later, the ship jumped away, with the three 304s following close behind.

**Onboard _Galactica_:**

The excavations on the planets surface had been going on for almost 12 hours, not only were there ruins to explore, scans had found deposits of tylium just under the surface. But it was the ruins that seemed to be more interesting, they were something that had never been seen before. The architecture, even though it had been abandoned for quite some time, was breathtaking, and that was just judging by the pictures that had been brought back. Adama had sent the best marines he had down to the planet to assist the chief and the rest of the excavation team.

**Uninhabited Planet:**

'This is unlike anything I have ever seen." Chief Tyrol said aloud, perhaps to the four marines that followed him through the darkened corridors that ran underground throughout the ruins.

"Do you know what all of this is yet chief?" Helo asked.

"It's a city, a very large and advanced city." the chief answered as he ran his hands over a closed door that was blocking their way. Taking out a small piece of plastic explosive, he placed it on the door, and after moving everyone back around the last corner, blew the door open. The group turned the corner again, to see the door blown out of the way. Quickly clearing what little remained of it, they continued to move deeper into the city.

**Onboard the _Prometheus_:**

"Sir, we are picking up some interesting readings from our destination." one of the technicians said to Colonel Pendergast.

"What types of readings?" The Colonel asked.

"Well, we are picking up the ruins of an ancient settlement just like we thought, but I am also picking up a large number of ships in orbit around the planet.".

"Wraith?" Pendergast asked simply.

"No sir, they are unlike anything we have previously encountered.".

"Inform general O'Neill that we will be dropping out of hyperspace early, lets not jump right into the middle of that fleet." Pendergast ordered. The message was sent, and minutes later, the ship dropped out of hyperspace just behind a gas giant that was orbiting the same sun. The remainder of the fleet was only two minutes behind the _Prometheus_, and followed her example by hiding behind the massive planet.

"What do you have for me Colonel." O'Neill said as the screen in front of Pendergast lit up.

"We picked up a large fleet of ships orbiting the planet, we now know that most of them, except for the largest two, are civilian ships and unarmed." Pendergast explained.

"Okay, lets wait here for awhile to see what we are dealing with." O'Neill ordered.

"We aren't going to try and make contact?" Pendergast exclaimed in surprise.

"Not yet Colonel, Daniel thinks that we might spook them. By the damage we are detecting on both warships, they have been in a fight fairly recently. Lets not get ourselves mistaken as the same people that did that to them." O'Neill said before cutting the connection.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

"Admiral, DRADIS picked up some strange readings from behind that gas giant." Lt. Gaeta reported.

"Cylons?" Tigh wondered aloud.

"No sir. The readings are not consistent with any FTL signatures." Gaeta explained.

"Its probably nothing, but when Starbuck gets back from the planet, have her take a raptor to go double check." Adama ordered.

**Uninhabited planet:**

The chief had just used his last piece of plastic explosive on a door that refused to budge, although the fact that it was significantly heavier than the others they had encountered accounted for the discrepancy. "We have to go back and pick up more explosive." he said.

"Fine with me," Helo agreed, "I wouldn't mind getting outside again for a change.". the entire group began the walk back outside the ruins, their quest to find a way into that central tower ending, at least for the moment, in failure.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

The relative calm that had existed in the CIC was shattered when the alarms started blaring. "DRADIS contact! Four Cylon basestars just jumped into the system." Gaeta said fairly calmly.

"How the frack did that happen?" Tigh yelled over the noise.

"The fleet is powering their FTL drives, Cylons are launching missiles!". Gaeta reported.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"Four new ships have just appeared in orbit!" a tech shouted.

"How did they get in there?" Colonel Ellis demanded.

"I don't know sir, its like they just appeared there." the man explained before another alarm started going off.

"Looks like they brought Nukes too." O'Neill said dryly.

"Jack, we can't let them nuke the ancient outpost!" Daniel exclaimed.

"I know Daniel. All ships, prepare to engage the new contacts." Jack ordered.

**Uninhabited planet:**

"_Galactica_ reports Cylon contacts inbound, we have to move!" someone yelled down the last corridor, causing the team to break into a sprint towards the last two raptors, which were waiting to bring them back to their ship.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

"Cylons are launching missiles, fleet is away." Gaeta said.

"We need to jump." Tigh said to Adama.

"No. Wait for the raptors, we aren't leaving anyone behind this time." Adama ordered.

"_Pegasus_ is returning fire." Gaeta said, describing the situation outside the CIC. The missiles from the Pegasus streaked towards the Cylon basestars, some impacting along their superstructures, but most got picked out of the air by the hundreds of raiders that were flying around engaging vipers and protecting their own ships.

"New contacts on DRADIS! Four new contacts moving between the fleet and the Cylons." Gaeta said excitedly.

"Who are they?" Adama demanded.

"I do not know sir, the ships do not match any known profile." Gaeta said.

"Tell _Pegasus_ to hold her fire on the new ships and to move on the basestar located here." Adama said, pointing to the Cylon ship that was furthest from the new ships.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"Launch our fighters, fire at will." O'Neill ordered, causing each of the 304s to open fire on the strange ships that had been attacking the civilian fleet.

The Apollo, which had appeared on a perpendicular heading to the Cylons, turned a hard left, with speed that no one on the watching battlestars had ever seen. Apollo's rail guns were blotting Cylon raiders out of existence while its shields absorbed the first volley of enemy missiles. "Fire missiles." O'Neill ordered when they came in satisfactory range. The missiles leapt out of their tubes and headed towards the nearest basestar. They impacted on the much larger ship, their impacts being marked with large flashes of flame as the Mark IX warheads detonated on contact with the ship, which boasted no shields. The basestar seemed to stop mid-flight for a moment before one of its 'arms' split off and exploded, leaving the rest of the ship mostly disabled.

_Pegasus_ and _Galactica_ were peppering the fourth basestar with missiles and their kinetic energy weapons. One last volley struck right at the heart of the basestar, blowing the ship apart like it was made of plastic. The blast wave extended onto the _Prometheus_, lighting up the ships shields as it rode out the explosion.

"_Prometheus_ caught the majority of that blast but she looks okay." the tech reported from his station in front of O'Neill.

Seeing one of their number explode, the remaining three Cylon basestars jumped out of the system, leaving a number of raiders to be picked off the combined forces of the F-302s and the colonial vipers, which were still regarding each other with uncertainty.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

"Open a channel to the new ships." Adama ordered as soon as the last Cylon contact had been blotted of the screen of the DRADIS system.". When it had been done, he spoke, "This is Admiral Adama of the Colonial Fleet, we thank you for your help against our adversaries.". There was static on the line for almost a full minute before a voice answered.

"This is general Jack O'Neill onboard the _Apollo_, it was our pleasure.".

"General," Adama said, "I propose we both stand down our forces in order to meet face to face.". The silence was palpable as the crew waited for the response.

"Very well, we will meet you on the planets surface in two hours." O'Neill's voice said over the line.

"Agreed." Adama said simply as he cut the line. "Get the fleet back here, the Cylons won't be back anytime soon.". Gaeta nodded and proceeded to send a message to the fleet, leaving Adama to his thoughts.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"Are you sure this is wise O'Neill" Teal'c asked as the conversation ended.

"We helped them out of a tight spot, I don't expect any problems." Jack answered before turning and giving another order. "Signal Atlantis to send out their flagship team and some puddle jumpers, the _Koralev_ will be enough to carry anything they could need.".

"Yes sir." a tech answered, sending the message. Now all they could do was wait for the _Koralev_ to make the short jump to the system.

**A/N:** Please review and let me hear what you all think about the story so far...thanks.


	2. Face to Face

**A/N:** Here is the second chapter of the story, enjoy.

**Onboard the _Koralev_:**

After receiving the message from the Apollo, Dr. Weir had sent Colonel Sheppard's team out along with Dr. Zelenka and a few other scientists. "We will be arriving momentarily, you should board your craft." Colonel Chekov advised Sheppard just before the ship dropped out of hyperspace.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

"DRADIS contact!" Gaeta called out as the Koralev appeared on their sensors.

"Cylons?" Tigh asked immediately.

"No, the ship matches the design of the other vessels in the system." Gaeta replied, referring to the other F-304s that stood off station around the fleet.

"Very well," Tigh said, "Inform the raptors that they may proceed to the surface of the planet.". Gaeta nodded, and the Colonial delegation was off.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"_Koralev_ is in system and standing by. Count two puddle jumpers in space, heading for our docking bays." the technician reported.

"Good." Jack answered. "We better get down there then.". SG-1 followed the general down to the docking bay, and into the second puddle jumper, which soon took off and set a course for the planets surface.

**Uninhabited Planet:**

Admiral Adama stood outside of a raptor, shoulder to shoulder with President Laura Roslin. "So we have no idea where these people are from?"

"No. They did not state any allegiance in their messages to us." Adama answered.

"Then let us hope that they will continue to fight the Cylons, rather than us." Roslin said as the pair noticed two strange ships closing on their position very rapidly. The ships stopped over the clearing and slowly descended. "This must be them.".

The rear hatch on both ships lowered, revealing a man with gray hair and a green hat. "Admiral Adama I presume?" the man, who Adama recognized by his voice as general O'Neill asked.

"Yes general." Adama said, "May I introduce Laura Roslin, president of the twelve colonies.".

"Madam President." Jack said graciously, let me introduce everyone. This is Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Teal'c.". Each person greeted the colonials in their own way as they were introduced.

"Who are those other people?" Roslin asked, referring to the other jumper, where Sheppard's team was preparing to go investigate the ruins.

"Ah, them." Jack said, as if he had hoped that it wouldn't come up. "They will not be joining us for this meeting, instead they are going to have a look around the ruins.".

"Excuse me." Adama said, "But we found those first, and are in the process of looking through them ourselves.".

Teal'c raised an eyebrow behind O'Neill at this unforeseen problem. "Are you now." Jack said spinning around to talk to Daniel, "They are looking through them now, thats too bad isn't it?".

"Jack." Daniel said, a warning tone to his voice.

"Perhaps we can negotiate the possibility of allowing you a brief tour of the ruins later." Roslin said, hoping to defuse the situation.

Jack suddenly had a disgusted look on his face as he turned to Carter and said, "Get on the radio, order Sheppard's team to return to the jumper.".

"I don't think there will be any need for that." Carter said, gesturing over to where ten colonial marines were leading the Atlantis team back into the clearing.

Jacks mind was working fast now, the team had barely left the clearing when they must have been ambushed by these colonials. It stood to reason that there must be more of those marines around. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked, his anger barely under control.

"General, you have to understand. We have had some terrible things happen to our people, we take no chances now." Roslin attempted to explain.

"Too damn bad." Jack replied, his zat pointed at Adama's head. The rest of the team had raised their weapons as well, as had the colonial marines that were still emerging from the trees around the two puddle jumpers.

"Perhaps as a sign of good faith you could lower your weapons." Roslin said, trying to be diplomatic.

"A sign of good faith?" Mitchell said disbelievingly. "Last I checked he gave you a whopper of a sign of good faith by saving you fellas from those other ships.".

"We thank you for your help against the Cylons." Adama said, his own weapon in his hand.

"You could thank us by letting us into that city over there." Daniel said, pointing to the ruins.

"Why are they so important?" Kara Thrace asked, her pistol inched away from the face of Rodney McKay.

"That city was built by the ancients." Daniel explained.

"The ancients?" Roslin asked, perplexed.

"You have never heard of them, perhaps you refer to them as the ancestors?" Teyla responded.

"The only other peoples we recognize are the Cylons and the thirteenth tribe, apart from the Lords of Kobol." Kara said aggressively.

That could be them, Daniel thought as he listened to the aggressive pilot answer Teyla. "As a start, why don't we all lower our weapons." Daniel offered.

"Perhaps that would be best." Laura reasoned, motioning for the marines to lower their weapons. SG-1 followed suit, with Teal'c lowering his staff weapon just as O'Neill's zat went back into its holster.

"Now, lets talk like civilized people." Daniel said calmly.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"They have been gone for almost five hours." Colonel Ellis exclaimed.

"Patience Colonel." Thor said softly, "These things can often take much longer than this.".

"I don't have to like it." The military man responded as he continued to scan the planet for any sign of the jumpers taking off again.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

"Still no word from the surface?" Tigh asked Gaeta, who was still at his station.

"None sir.".

"Frak." Tigh said, although it came out almost as a sigh.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"Sir, we are receiving a transmission from the surface." the radio technician said, turning to face Colonel Ellis as he did so.

"Patch it through." Ellis ordered.

"Colonel, we've finished the first round of talks with the colonials." reported General O'Neill.

"General, good to finally hear your voice." Ellis responded.

"Thank you Colonel." O'Neill said, "After a few initial difficulties Daniel was eventually able to work out an agreement on the ruins of the ancient city that are sitting down here.".

"What did this agreement entail?" Ellis questioned.

"A joint expedition into the ruins, thankfully these people do not seem to know exactly what they have stumbled on." Jack answered, his distain for sharing the possible spoils evident in his voice.

"Is there anything else that General Hammond needs to be made aware of?" Ellis asked, referring to the report he would be making after his current conversation ended.

"No, we won't have anything else until Daniel meets with their president again." Jack answered.

"Very well, is there anything you need down there?" Ellis asked.

"Yes actually, we found a ring platform down here so have _Prometheus_ take up position over the ruins." Jack ordered.

"Yes sir." Ellis answered before the transmission ended.

**Uninhabited Planet:**

"Is _Prometheus_ inbound?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes Colonel, the ship will take up position above the ruins." Jack answered.

"Jack, are we ready to go?" Daniel interjected as he ran up to the two military men.

"Yes Daniel, we can all go in now." Jack answered with a small smile, before following Daniel into the opening that the colonials had blasted into the walls of the city. The group of colonials and SGC personnel continued to move into the city until they again came to the stubborn door that had refused to open for the chief earlier. The colonials began fastening multiple pieces of plastic explosive to the door, as if to exact revenge for their wait.

Daniel nudged Jack and said softly, "If they aren't careful then they could bring the whole ceiling down with that door. We should tell them to use less C4.".

"It's a blast door Daniel," Jack answered, "ergo, we need extra C4 to blow it down.". The colonials motioned for everyone to move back, which they did, just before an explosion went off on the door. Jack poked his head around the corner he had taken cover behind, "These guys are not going to be happy.".

Daniel was about to ask why when they heard a cry from the chief, "Fracking door wont fracking move!". Jack wore a slight smile as he walked towards the offending door.

"McKay, try and hotwire it." he ordered, before watching the scientist peel the panel off the wall and begin to remove and relocate control crystals. Minutes later, the door slid open a fraction, allowing three colonial marines with pry bars to open it the rest of the way. They stood in a vary small room with a set of stairs that ascended up and untold number of floors.

"We should be right under the main tower sir." Carter said, looking up at the stairs.

"Good, McKay, Daniel, every door that we pass on the way up, translate what it says, that will tell us the rooms function." Jack ordered.

"How do you know there will be symbols to translate?" a colonial asked in a slightly disbelieving tone.

"Daniel, what does that translate to?" Jack asked, pointing to words in ancient that were engraved above the door they had just come through.

"Loosely translated, it mean exit." Daniel said.

"And on the other side?" Jack continued.

"It said, main stairwell." Daniel answered honestly.

"That's how I know soldier, now follow us and do not touch anything we don't tell you to." Jack said.

"Why should we follow your orders? We found this place first so we are entitled to first pick of whatever we find." another marine said, earning a glare from Starbuck.

"You will do it because you have no idea what you could possibly be dealing with, you will do it because I am your superior officer, and you will do it because if you manage to endanger us all, I will shoot you." Jack snarled, the brim of his green baseball hat almost touching the other mans helmet as he leaned in to make his point absolutely clear.

The marine looked helplessly at the closest officer, Starbuck, as if he was asking for help. "Private, we will be following General O'Neill's orders while we are in here, they have dealt with these things before.".

Jack was puzzled slightly when the colonial mentioned that they had done these things before, he motioned to Daniel, who moved and confronted the colonial as the rest of the group began climbing the stairs.

"What did you mean by your comments back there?" he asked the blonde colonial as the climbed at the back of the group.

"You mean how did I know that you all had done something like this before?" Starbuck replied, never breaking stride.

"Yes." Daniel pressed, almost eagerly.

"It was fairly obvious, your ships appeared in system looking for something, and these ruins are the only thing on the planet. That and the fact that you were not awed at all by the scope or technology that we have encountered so far, it was all business." Starbuck explained, waiting as Daniel marked off a door that said 'primary lift' above it in ancient.

"I suppose that does make sense." Daniel said as he digested the information given to him by the colonial pilot.

"Of course it makes sense." Starbuck replied with a grin as the pair continued to climb the seemingly endless stairs.

"McKay, quick question." Sheppard said as he reached yet another level.

"Go ahead." the scientist answered as he continued to stare at the screen of his laptop.

"Why haven't the lights come on or the city powered up as we entered it?" Sheppard asked.

"A number of reasons really, why do you ask?" McKay replied quickly, not breaking stride.

"Oh I don't know McKay, maybe because a transporter would come in handy right now." Sheppard snapped, irritated at the sheer number of stairs they were being forced to climb in order to reach the control room.

"Ah, yes. Well, it could be that the city's zed-pm is completely depleted. Or, it could be that we have to be in the control room for the city to power up, it would be a fantastic waste of energy for all systems to go online just because someone entered some remote part of the structure." McKay answered, his eyes finally leaving the laptop.

Sheppard had to admit that it made sense, but the fact that it was a sound theory did nothing to alleviate his tired legs. That being so, he kept his mouth shut until they reached one final landing that opened up into what he recognized as a control room, minus the stargate.

Just then the lights began o come on, causing the colonials to raise their weapons sharply. "There are your lights Sheppard." Jack said, "And you all can lower your weapons now, there are no threats here.".

McKay ran up the steps and began accessing the computers that the ancients left behind. The expressions on his face ran from pleased to perplexed in a matter of seconds. "Is there a problem doctor?" O'Neill asked as he approached the man.

"A few problems actually." McKay answered.

"The greatest of which are?" O'Neill asked, leaving room for McKay to complete the sentence.

"The city has no drones ready for action and evidently the control chair itself is damaged. We are defenseless if anything gets by the fleet.".

"I can see how that could be a problem. What's the good news?" Jack replied.

"The good news is that the database says there is a laboratory where the ancients made zed-pms, so there might be some lying around." Rodney answered excitedly.

O'Neill's face broke into a large grin at the news, "Begin the search doctor, unfortunately I have to be at the next round of talks so I will be unable to join you. Report anything you find immediately.".

"Yes, yes of course." Rodney said distractedly as he began searching the computers for a location of the lab. Jack merely shook his head as he walked back down the stairs and out of the city fifteen minutes later.

**Abandoned City:**

"Your ships are impressive." Starbuck said in a conversational tone to Daniel as the pair searched for anything useful in the many rooms of the city.

"I suppose they are, although your own are much larger." Daniel quipped back.

"True, but your own vessels have those shields." Starbuck argued.

"Yes they do, and before you ask, I do not know how they work." Daniel replied, causing the colonials face to drop a little, before she came up with another question.

"Your ship, the Apollo, is it named for the gods?".

"The gods?" Daniel said in a confused tone before snapping back into his normal learning mode. "So you worship multiple gods?" he asked.

"Yes, the Lords Of Kobol, the people of your world do not?".

"The people of my world worship many different gods, although most religions only have one." Daniel explained.

"You have more than one religion on your planet?" Starbuck asked, almost incredulously.

"Yes we do..." Daniel stopped as the door in front of him slid open to reveal a large room, with three ZPMs sitting ready, but not installed, into a power station. "Sam!" he yelled into his radio, "Get McKay and get down here.".

**Onboard the _Prometheus_:**

The next round of talks between the two cultures took place in a large room cleared out directly adjacent to the ring platforms. Jack had chosen the site personally, to avoid giving the colonials and tour of the ship. Next to him sat Colonel Pendergast, commander of the _Prometheus_. So far, little had been accomplished, although no one had pointed a gun at anyone else during the proceedings, which was a definite step up from former meetings. "General O'Neill, surely you understand that we are leaving our fleet in great danger by staying in orbit around this planet." Roslin said, referring to the Cylons, which so far had shown no hesitance to wipe out humanity.

"Madam President, rest assured that you will have the assistance of our fleet when and if the Cylons do return." Jack had the urge to add 'and don't call me Shirley' but managed to bottle it up, at least for now.

"No offense meant general, but how do we know that we can trust you when we know nothing about your people, your government and what you stand for?" Adama questioned, looking Jack straight in the eyes.

"I'm sure that we could get you all the information you could ever need, but I will share a few things with you, that will hopefully ease your mind." Jack answered, meeting the colonials gaze. Adama nodded for Jack to go ahead.

"Well, years ago, we burst onto the scene in our galaxy as a result of a number of discoveries. What we discovered was that the majority of our galaxy was under the control of a race of beings that had enslaved humanity on almost every inhabitable planet except our own. We decided to try and free as many of the people as we could, and a war that we knew we had little chance at winning began. We eventually gathered allies, one of which you may meet later, and we eventually toppled the regime that had enslaved the galaxy, because it was the right thing to do." Jack said, although he knew he was playing up the circumstances a little.

"Why would you undertake such a seemingly impossible goal?" Adama asked, with a small amount of disbelief in his voice.

"We discovered that our planet had thrown one of the tyrants off a millenia before, and that the rest of the oppressed galaxy looked up to that goal, and had named the people of my planet the Tau'ri." Jack explained.

"And what planet is that?" Roslin asked, leaning forward, her hands clasped together.

"Earth." Jack answered without hesitation, not really knowing what he had just started.

**Abandoned City:**

Daniel and Starbuck stood a few feet away as Carter and McKay excitedly went over the readings they were receiving from the ZPMs that Daniel had discovered. "This, this is astounding!" McKay shouted to no one in particular.

"What is so important about those gems, are they valuable to you people?" Starbuck asked Daniel as the two did their best to keep out of the way of the scientists.

"Oh yes, they are very valuable, although not as currency. Those are power sources, the most powerful ones that we know to exist, Colonel Carter could explain how they work if you are interested." Daniel explained.

"But if they are just power sources, why are they so valuable?" Kara asked, still puzzled.

"They are so valuable because we do not yet know how to make them ourselves." Daniel answered, without giving too much information away.

Starbuck was about to respond but she was cut off by a call from Sam, "Daniel, we need you to start translating these logs on the computer terminals.".

"Okay Sam." Daniel said, shooting Starbuck a slightly apologetic glance because of the abrupt ending to their conversation.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"That's when they got all excited George." Jack said as he filled in General George Hammond on what had happened during the second meeting with the colonials.

"They had been searching for us the entire time?" Hammond asked, as if for clarification.

"Yes, they know us as the thirteenth tribe, and after I revealed that we came from earth, they were more eager to talk with us." Jack explained.

"And they now want our help against these Cylons." Hammond stated.

"Yes sir, they believe it is our duty to help them. And they have requested a safe planet to stay, at least until the talks are over." Jack elaborated, his face showing his dislike towards the colonials attitude about an alliance in their war.

"Very well, begin a search for an uninhabited planet in the Pegasus galaxy, and prepare defenses around the planed you are currently orbiting. We do not want to leave the ancient ruins unprotected." Hammond ordered.

"Yes sir. But if these Cylons were to somehow get through our defenses..." Jack said, leaving his sentence dangling.

"If so, you are ordered to detonate a nuclear device at the center of the city, that should take out anything of value." Hammond said before cutting the connection.

**Abandoned City:**

Twelve hours after the conversation O'Neill had shared with Hammond, a warhead had been installed in the center of the city, and the fleet was a full battle readiness. The Colonial fleet had jumped to another system, with both battlestars accompanying it. The only Colonials who had stayed were observers, although one of those was Kara Thrace. She had scarcely left the side of the intelligent Daniel Jackson, whom she had become attached to. Although never as religious as some of her comrades, she was now riveted to the new perspective that the thirteenth tribe put on the Lords Of Kobol, or Ancients, depending on who you talked to.

With the Colonials gone, the F-304s had taken up station around the planed, with the _Prometheus_ still in the atmosphere assisting in the exploration of the city. Although the ship had been little help so far, the ancients had shielded the entire city from sensors and even transporters in order to give it a smaller technological 'footprint' from orbit. It had worked, the wraith had never landed on the seemingly empty planet. It did however hamper efforts to speed up the process of exploring the city.

Even without the help of sensors and transporters, discoveries had been made. Control crystals had been ripped out of terminals that they lacked the power to operate, something that Daniel had fought against ferociously. Jack had eventually been able to silence him by mentioning that Carter would surely be able to reinstall them when/if any threat to the city had been eliminated. But for the time being, keeping that technology out of anyone else's hands was a priority. One startling find was the 200 drones that sat in a large room full of racks. Those had to be painstakingly carried out of the city before they could be beamed into the hold of the Prometheus. More and more was being discovered, but the eventual return of the Cylons occupied everyone's mind.

"McKay, is the shield ready yet?" Jack asked the scientist as he worked inside a large access hatch that stood near the technology that generated the shield, technology Jack did not want to understand, but rather to operate correctly.

"No general, just like the last ten times you asked me." McKay snapped.

"Well what's wrong with it?" Jack questioned, knowing that they needed that shield if they hoped to stay in the city.

"I don't know yet! Everything should be working, the ancients must have sabotaged it in some way before they left." McKay said

"Why would they do that?" Jack asked, with a small amount of sarcasm.

"I don't know, maybe to ensure that no one else used the city as a stronghold?" McKay snapped again, in a way that suggested he was speaking with a small child. It was a tone that Jack did not appreciate.

"You have two hours before I put Carter on this.' he decreed before leaving the room, and a flabbergasted Rodney McKay behind.

Jack walked down a hallway and up a mercifully short flight of stairs before emerging back in the control room of the city. "Carter." he said, both as a greeting and as a request for an update.

"I'm making progress sir." she answered, referring to her efforts to repair the long range sensors.

"Well that's good." Jack quipped.

"Not as good as I'd hoped for though." Carter clarified while casting a forlorn look at the offending screen, which was mostly blank.

"What do you mean?" Jack said, glancing at the screen.

"Do you see the sections of the screen that are filled in?" Carter asked, causing Jack to nod, "Those are only small sections of space, the Cylons could appear from any of the directions where we currently have no means of detecting them.".

"I can see how that could be a problem." Jack replied thoughtfully.

"Yes, although our screen of F-304s will be enough to at least give us a chance to evacuate and detonate the warhead under the city." Carter rationalized.

"That is our best option, especially considering McKay has yet to get the shield working." Jack stated, clearly annoyed at the situation.

"Hopefully I can get these sensors working, then at least we will know if the shield will be needed." Carter replied, upset over her own uncharacteristic failure of her task. Jack merely nodded before he was off again to check the progress in yet another part of the city.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

Admiral Adama sat in his office with his son and president Roslin, discussing the ongoing relations with the thirteenth colony. "...we have no choice but to trust them at any rate." Adama said, finishing a sentence that had illustrated his reluctance in trusting a people that they still knew very little about.

"They will not betray us." Roslin stated, no trace of disbelief evident in her voice.

"How can you be so sure?" Adama asked the woman who over the course of their odyssey had become a close friend and confidant.

"Because they are the thirteenth colony?" Lee answered, although it came out almost as a question.

"That means very little," Adama said, "They are unaware of their heritage, and are a very different people than we are.".

"Perhaps, but we have much to offer them." Roslin said.

"Such as?" Lee questioned, the image of one of the earth ships absorbing missile impacts still etched into his brain.

"Our history and culture for one." Roslin said.

"They will not want our culture, at least not in its entirety, these Tau'ri as they call themselves are their own race." Adama stated with equal confidence.

"Our history and records then." Roslin assured the two.

"For academic curiosity maybe, but they will not need to offer much in return." Lee said, suddenly seeing where his father was going with his argument.

"We must have something to offer them in return for their help against the Cylons." Roslin said, realizing how naОve she had just been.

"We do." Adama said, convinced that his answer was the only one.

"What is it admiral?" Roslin questioned.

"FTL technology." Adama answered simply.

"They have inquired about it then?" Roslin asked, pleased by that revelation.

"Not directly, they have expressed curiosity about the technology but have thus far withheld any request to study it. Although that could be an effect of the current situation at the ruins." Adama replied.

"So until they request the technology, we have nothing to offer them?" Lee asked.

"Yes, it seems we are reliant on their goodwill towards our people until we prove ourselves worthy allies to the Tau'ri." Adama answered before returning to his own thoughts. The rocky start that the two peoples had gotten off to had without doubt hurt their relations, the question was, how much?

**Abandoned City:**

Jack O'Neill had finished his rounds of the major discovery sites in the city and was in the process of making his way back to the control room when Carter's voice crackled over his radio. "Sir, you better get up here and take a look at this.". Breaking into a run, jack was there in less than three minutes.

"What is it Carter?" he asked, coming to a stop next to his former teammate.

"Look at this sir." Sam said, gesturing to the screen she had been working with all day. Jack looked, noticing the many blank spots still evident on the screen.

"Its still broken." he observed nonchalantly.

"Yes, but look at what it caught a few moments ago." Carter explained before initiating playback on the screen. Jack saw a brief moment where a group of shapes emerged, before they vanished again.

"What was that?" he asked.

"That was the appearance of a large group of Cylon baseships." Carter explained, "I am unsure of the exact number because they appeared directly next to a portion of the sensor grid that is still offline.".

"How long until they reach us?" Jack asked.

"Sir, to be fair, they should be here already, especially with their FTL technology. But they are hesitating, taking a longer route to get to us." Sam explained, her confusion over the Cylon behavior evident on her face.

"They must be waiting for reinforcements." Jack thought aloud. "Carter, get a watch on this station, we need to know when they will arrive. You and McKay need to start getting as much ancient technology out of this city and onto the Prometheus as possible.".

"What about the city itself?" Sam asked.

"If I'm right, we wont be able to hold these Cylons off for very long." Jack said before striding towards the door. "And make sure that the warhead is working properly, the last thing we need is a dud.". With that, Jack was gone, and Carter began hurrying to carry out his orders.

**A/N:** Please continue to review and share your opinions, I enjoy reading every intelligent review I get.


	3. The Dogs Of War

**A/N: **Here is the third chapter in the story, a new character that is not mentioned in the first chapter appears below, he is of my own invention so I hope he manages to fir into the story well, let me know what all of you think about the good captain and about the rest of the chapter.

Captain Tom Morse, F-302 pilot (_DSC Apollo_)

**Abandoned City:**

SamanthaCarter stood next to the large warhead that was due to vaporize the city when and if the cylons broke through the this shield of ships in orbit around the planet. SO far every test she had run over her computer models showed the destruction of the city, which was exactly what O'Neill wanted. She watched as the model again expressed a 100 percent destruction result before changing the variables slightly and hitting the 'enter' key on her laptop computer, sighing she waited for the simulation to run its course although the outcome would undoubtably be the same.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

Jack sat in his chair on the bridge, his eyes scanning out the windows for any sign of the Cylon ships. Although he was well aware that the sensors would pick up the fleet well before his own eyes would alert him of their presence, Jack wanted something to occupy the wait. All of the preparations had been made in order for the fleet, and those personell who were still in the city to be ready for the Cylon arrival. Carter had run enough simulations to ensure that the warhead installed in the city would fully destroy any technology they left behind. The _Prometheus_ was still sitting inside the atmosphere, both to get everyone out of the city, and as a suprise for the cylons when they arrived, who would undoubtably focus on the fleet in front of them rather than what may be in the atmosphere.

The _Galactica_ and the _Pegasus_ were stationed behind the planet, with orders not to engage unless ordered to by O'Neill. Adama was not happy with that fact, but Jack's argument had eventually swayed the man. Jack hoped that when the Cylons detected no Colonial ships in the area, they would assume that the tau'ri had driven them off, and that the two sides were not in fatc allies. The plan had the added benifit of the Cylons losing the trail of the civilian fleet. After some time, Adama had agreed to the plan, although he had stationed a raptor equipted with a number of cameras to view the battle and transmit back to the Galactica, where the senior military staff would be watching.

Without the early warning that Jack had hoped for, the Cylon fleet jumped into the system, causing alarms to ring in each on of the Tau'ri ships. "All ships, launch missiles." Jack ordered, hoping to catch the Cylons off guard. it was however, not to be, as the Cylon raiders intercepted the missiles that would have hit the ships. The basestars launched next, all thirteen of them sending every available missile towards the tightly packed Earth ships. Jack's plan had also allowed for the superior shielding of his ships, which was evident as the first cylon volley splashed harmlessly against the shields. The next volley from the F-304s was just as innefective as the first, being blotted out of existance just as the Cylon missiles struck again.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

Adama stood watching the battle, inwardly awed at the pounding that those sield could absorb. "They have to switch tactics." Adama finally said as a third volley smashe dinto the formation. General O'Neill it seemed had been thinking the same way, and just as the Cylons launched again, the _Apollo_, _Koralev_, _Deadalus_ and _Odyssey_ split up, their rail guns swatting at the Raiders that swirled around them, trying to penetrate the shields.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"All ships, get in close with those basestars." Jack ordered, hoping to negate the large volleys of missiles that were flying their way. The _Odyssey_ took a few more hits to its shields before it was amongst the basestars, missiles launching in every direction and explosions blossoming on the superstructure of the enemy ships. The _Koralev_ followed, running a gauntlet of fire to position itself between three of the basestars. The _Apollo_ turned sharply, cruising very close to an exploding basestar as it launched its next flight of missiles.

"Sir, the computer core reports that a virus had attempted to gain access to our network." a technician repoted over the crash and whine of the shields being struck with enemy missiles and kinetic energy weapons.

"Is the core secure?' Jack questioned immediatley.

"Yes sir, our firewalls prevented access." the tech answered.

"Sir," another man said, "we are recieving reports of the same virus from every ship. All are secure for the moment.".

"Very well, reinforce the firewalls, I want that core to stay secure." Jack ordered as the ship shook with another round of explosions.

The space battle was a mass of explosions as missiles impacted ships, fighters and even each other. The F-304s flew complex patterns in between and around the larger Cylon basestars, smashing raiders and causing some heavy damage to five of the enemy capital ships. The Cylon missiles however, were slowly beginning to take their toll on the shields of the Tau'ri vessels. The _Apollo_ shook more violently than ever as the ships shields were tested again by the cylons.

"Sir!" a the captain called out suddenly, "The _Koralev_!".

Jack looked just in time to see the shields on the ship flash violently and then collapse under the weight of the bombardment. The next Cylon missile impacted on the thin bow of the ship, smashing a large hole in its structure. The lights on the ship flickered and died seconds before another missile struck the bridge. The engines lost power and the Koralev was adrift in space, and venting atmosphere. Jacks attention was torn away from the stricken ship as a basestar directly in front of the _Apollo_ exploded, the wreckage cascading over the shields, weakening them enough for the next missile impacts to bring them down to a critical level. "Carter," Jack said over the radio, "set the timer ont he warhead and get onboard the _Prometheus_, we are jumping out of the system in three minutes.". There was no reply, none was needed between the two former teammates, Carter would do her duty regardless about how she personally felt about the orders. Jack watched as an F-302 chased a cylon raider accross his viewport, launched a missile that blew the enemy ship apart and then rolled over and out of sight, avoiding a line of unfriendly looking blue tracers. Thirty seconds later, a problem became evident.

"Sir, I have a problem down here." Carter's voice cracked over the radio.

"What is it Carter?" Jack asked hurridly as the _Apollo_ took another hit.

"I'm locked out of the computer on the warhead, I can't detonate it." she said.

Realizing that it may in fact be due to the cylon virus that Carter was locked out, Jack said, "Get that warhead out of there and get aboard the _Prometheus_.".

"But sir..." she started.

"Those are my orders Carter, you have two minutes." Jack said before cutting the connection. The _Deadalus_ was reporting some damage to its outer hull, and Jack could not afford to wait much longer for the _Prometheus_ to get away formt he city in order for them to nuke it.

"Sir, hyperspace window opening to our front." a technician said, in time for jack to watch in awe as the form of the _Zues_ emerged. A bright blue beam shot out from its bow, punching through a basestar that had been firing on the _Apollo_. The energy cannons on the _Zeus_ began firing, inflicting heavy damage on the nearest basestar, which fired its missiles innefectivly against the shields.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

"What the frack was that?" Tigh asked just after the blue energy beam had punched through the basestar.

"I have no idea." Adam abreatherd as the newly arrived ship poured death down on the other basestars around the _Apollo_.

**Onboard the_ Zeus_:**

Colonel Davidson watched fromt he bridge as the weapons systems of his newly christened ship met and exceeded all expectations. The holes that the turrets were opening up in the hull of the cylon ship were impressive, and the resulting explosions had led to a second massive explosion as the basestar exploded.

"What is the status of the Asgard energy weapon?" he asked, turning slightly to face Lt. Hailey, the ships chief engineer.

"Sir, I am picking up a slight fluctuation in my readings, although through both shots the weapon has worked to perfection."

Davidson nodded and turned back to the battle, watching his ship destroy almost countless cylon raiders as it flew through the melee. The _Zeus_ shook slightly as missiles encountered the shields, wchich flashed brightly with each impact. "Fire." Davidson ordered as the Asgard weapon recharged back to full power, the blue beam shot out of the ship and cut clean through one of the slowly rotating 'arms' on a basestar. The strike was not enough to cripple the enemy ship, which was proven by the next volley of missiles it fired both at the _Zeus_ and the _Deadalus_. "When will the weapon be back online?" Davidson asked Hailey.

"Twenty seconds." Hailey asnwered as Davidson watched an F-302 chase a pair of raiders past the bridge, downing both with a single missile.

"Fire." Davidson ordered when Hailey gave him the signal that the weapon was back online. There was an explosion below them, and alarms began sounding throughout the ship. It was immediatley apparent that the weapon had malfunctioned in some way. "What happened!" the colonel yelled at Hailey.

"I don't know sir, I need more time to analyze the data." Hailey answered.

"Sir, we are venting atmosphere on the lower decks." a tech reported.

"Close down the affected areas, I want them sealed completely." Davidson ordered, "Continue fire with the remaining batteries, and inform General O'Neill of our change in status.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"This has been confirmed?" Jack asked the communications officer who had passed along the message from Davidson.

"Yes sir, our sensors picked up the explosion." the officer answered.

Jacks face turned slightly pale as he realized that the weapon that had seemingly turned the tides of the battle had been rendered ineffective. Opening a channel to carter he barked, "Get the _Prometheus_ into orbit and get out of here.". There was no reply, but seconds later sensors confirmed that the ship was rapidly leaving the surface of the planet.

"Once the _Prometheus_ has jumped to hyperspace, all the other ships will follow. Advise the Colonials to leave within the next few minutes, if they are lucky then the cylons will not detect their FTL signatures." Jack said as the Apollo rocked violently, the lights flickering momentarily.

The _Prometheus_ leapt out of the atmoshphere and set a course towards the battle. Missiles launched out of the tubes as the aging ship, lead by Colonel Pendergast, made a run for open space and the safety of a hyperspace window. The shields held under a brief cylon strike, and the Prometheus altered course slightly before a window opened up, and the ship dissapeared into it.

"The _Prometheus_ is away." a technician on the _Apollo_ reported to O'Neill.

"Order the fleet to jump away, get us out of the system." Jack ordered. the _Deadalus_ was the first to make its escape, followed by the slightly damaged _Odyssey_. The _Zeus_ damaged another basestar before it too vanished, followed closely by the _Apollo_.

**Onboard the _Prometheus_:**

Samantha Carter stood next to a large warhead, the very same one that had to be pried out of its seat inside the abandoned ancient city. Thankfully, it showed no signs of tampering, which led Carter to believe that the mysterious cylon computer violence was to blame for the problems with its detonation. More tests would have to be run, but thankfully there was not too much else that could be done within the confines of hyperspace travel.

**Onboard the _Galactica_:**

Admiral Adama sat at a large conference table with his son, Colonel Tigh and President Roslin, together they were discussing the battle that they had just witnessed. "The Earth ships fared well against the Cylons." Adama siad, starting off the conversation.

"Its that last ship that made all the difference." Tigh countered, "before that they were taking a pounding.".

"But with those shields of thiers, they managed to inflict massive damage while taking relativly few lasting hits themselves." Lee stated, impressed by the defensive capabilities evident in the F-304s.

"Have we confirmed the extent of the damage to the _Koralev_?" Tigh asked form his seat next to Lee.

"DRADIS confirmed that it took two cylon missiles to its superstructure, and was venting atmosphere from a large number of places. it is safe to assume that there were very few, if any survivors." Adama replied, reading off a sheet of paper prepared for him by Mr. Gaeta.

"Is there any chance we could go back and get the ship, or technology fromt he ship?" Tigh asked, seeing the value of any possible technology that they might find.

"I am sending a raptor back to take a quick look around, but we will not be trying to take anything form the Koralev, General O'Neill has made it clear that they plan to go back and either tow the ship back to one of their bases, or to destroy it completely in order to keep its technology from the Cylons." Adama answered, his tone leaving no room for arguement.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

General Jack O'Neill was not overly pleased with the outcome of the battle. The _Koralev_ had been heavily damaged, and was now likely in cylon hands, the _Zeus_ had also taken damage due to a mafunction in the Asgard energy weapon. Each of his remaining F-304s had to recharge their shields before any other action could be taken against the emerging cylon threat. On the upside, the F-302s had taken suprisingly light casualties against the cylon raiders, early reports indicated that it was a direct result of the fighters staying near their capital ships and engaging the raiders with their long range missiles, rather than the energy cannon that each had installed under the nose.

Those F-302s were the lynchpin of the plan that had begun formulating itself in Jacks head moments after he had decided that the _Koralev_ was too valuable to be left in cylon hands. Of course, it all had to wait until the _Galactica_ radioed back the status of the ship itelf.

**Onboard _Raptor 1-12_:**

Starbuck, who had again pulled raptor duty, punched the button and the FTL drive fired up. Milliseconds later, she appeared amidst the wreckage of a cylon basestar, and powered down all of her systems. Drifting with the wreck, she stared out o fthe windshield and began to manually record everything that was going on with the victorious cylon fleet. She could see the remains of the Koralev, still devoid of all signs of life, being dragged down into the atmosphere by a huge cylon creation that resembled the old colonial fleet tenders. Kara had no idea how such a vessel worked, or was even possible, but the fact remained that the earth ship was being taken for study by the cylons. General O'Neill's plan would have to be executed after all. Flicking the power back on, Starbuck jumped back out of the system escaping any notice from her cylon enemies.

**The Uninhabited Planet:**

The Cylon baseships sat in orbit of their recently conquered planet. drifting peacefully, or apparently so until whatever person who looked noticed the large gashed and burn marks that were scattered over their hulls. Results of the space battle that had forced the cylon empire to reinforce the fleet with three additional basestars. There were now 12 basestars around the planet, although four of them had sustained heavy damage that made them more of a liability during combat than anything else. Of the 12, only six were undamaged, or only damaged to a very small extent. However, even with that massive amount of damage, the cylons were sure that the planet was secure. That assumption was shattered when the massive form of the _Zeus_ dropped out of hyperspace in front of the F-304s.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

Jack stood next to the giant window that was centered at the forefront of the bridge, his plan was officially underway. "As soon as we clear the hyperspace window launch fighters." he ordered. Seconds later, Forty F-302 fighters, the only survivors of the origional 72 that had traveled with the fleet, launched out of their landing bays. The _Zeus_ was pouring fire from her secondary batteries down on two of the damaged basestars, clearing the way for the fighters to make their way down to the planet. The shields on the Apollo flashed as the first cylon volley made contact, and the ship turned to engage while the rest of the fleet stayed as close to the planet as possible, in order to recover whatever fighters returned form their mission.

**_Jolly 1_:**

Captain Tom Morse had been selected to lead the mission to destroy the _Koralev_, his fighter group, which had been given the callsign 'Jolly' was the remaining fighters from the earlier battles over the planet. He piloted his F-302 fighter down through the atmosphere, to the entrance of a large valley that the sensores aboard the _Apollo_ had detected. The scuttlebutt was that General O'Neill believed that the high walls of the caynon would hide the fighter group from the enemy radar, or DRADIS. So far, no enemy fighters had been detected, and O'Neill had seemingly been proven correct.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"_Jolly_ Leader reports that his group has reached the valley." a radio tech reported to O'Neill as another blast signaled the arrival of a cylon missile.

"Order them to proceed as planned, one pass and get back to their ships." Jack replied, his eyes never leaving the space battle that laid itself out in fornt of him.

**_Jolly 1_:**

"_Jolly_ leader this is _Apollo_, proceed as planned." the order came over the radio, Morse grinned inside his mask before pulling his figter into a sharp right turn that took him into a smaller gorge, which would lead them out to the _Koralev's_ location. The gorge was much thinner than the large valley that they had perviously entered, and as the F-302s formed into a long line, Morse saw a pair of cylons up ahead preparing a shoulder mounted missile. Just as he was abot to warn his group, his treat detector went off, telling him what he could already see, the cylons had launched their rocket, and it was coming straight at the vulnerable fighters. Yells of warning broke out over the radio as Morse pulled his fighter up, gaining altitude and allowing the rocket, which seemingly hadn't had time to aquire a target, to pass underneath him. _Jolly_ _2_ was not as lucky, the missile impacted the fighters left wing, sending the craft directly into the sheer rock wall of the gorge.

"_Jolly_ leader to group, accelerate to attack speed and arm weapons." Morse ordered, feeling his own fighter respond as he pushed the throttle down. A minute later, the group emerged out of the gorge, which flattened out onto a large plain, in the distance sat the _Koralev_. The only problem owuld be the swarm of cylon raiders that was heading right at them.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"_Jolly_ leader reports enemy fighters spotted over the _Koralev_, they are engaging now." the same tech told O'Neill, who merely nodded before turning back to the battle. The _Zeus_ had destroyed four basestars, although each of those had been damaged heavily in the last fight. The _Apollo_ was hanging back with the rest of the 304s, their job was not to destro the baseships, but to pick up the fighters when they returned, something that was made more perilous when two more basestars appeared on the system, almost directly on to p of the three remaining F-304s.

**_Jolly 1_:**

Morse broke through the cylon formation with _Jolly_ _3_ immediatly behind him, they set a course for the _Koralev_, ignoring the air to air combat that was ensuing violently around them. the intitaial combat outside of the gorge had been costly to both sides, 4 F-302s and a large number of raiders had been destroyed almost immediatly as the two sides clashed. Explosions dotted the skies as cylon raiders were blown apart by the air to air missiles that most of the group was armed with, Morse however had two naquedah enhanced air to ground missiles under his wings, and had recieved explicit instructions on where to hit the crippled vessel. His fighter was almost skimming across the ground now, and was at top speed. "Thirty seconds to launch." he reported into his radio, both for General O'Neill and for the rest of _Jolly_ group. Hearing confirmation form his wingman, he swooped onward towards the striken vessel, and launched his two missiles just as he came within their optimum range. The missiles gained altitude slightly until they aquired the signature of the _Koralev's_ reactor, a mere four seconds later, they impacted the ship. The _Koralev_ blew up in a giant and devestating flash of flame and debris. The F-302s immediately headed upwards out fo the atmosphere, going to afterburner and gaining space over the cylon raiders chasing them.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"Captain Morse reports _Koralev_ is destroyed" the tech said.

Jack turned to face the man, "Have sensors confirm and stand by to recover fighters.".

**_Jolly 1_:**

Morse's fighter shot out of the atmosphere, his fighter just ahead of the remainder of his group. The cylon raiders that were chasing them had picked off a few more of the F-302s during their flight to the relative safety of space. His turn towards the Apollo evidently opened up a larger target for the cylons, and blue tracers lanced through space in front of the cockpit. One shell finally smashed violently into the wing, rocking the fighter and sending Morse spontaniously off course. Righting his fighter, he pulled into a sharp left turn and brought the cylon raider closest to him into his sights. He pulled the trigger and the energy cannon under the nose fired a short burst, shredding his opponent, and also bringing him closer to the _Apollo_. Returning to his earlier course, he passid not the range of the railguns on the _Apollo_, which were firing nonstop at the cylon raiders persuing the F-302s. The barrage caught some of the cylons by suprise, and allowed Morse and his fellow pilots to touch down in the landing bays.

**Onboard the _Apollo_:**

"Sir, all our remaining fighters are aboard and sensors confirm the destruction of the _Koralev_." the deck officer reported.

"Good, get us back to the rally point." Jack ordered, taking his seat just in time for the _Apollo_ and the rest of the fleet to jump back into hyperspace, leaving more smashed basestars and one fully destroyed F-304 in their wake.

The fleet reappeared hours later in real space, the _Prometheus_ was waiting for them right where they had left it. "I want a full damage report from all ships within the hour." Jack ordered before leaving the bridge for the relative silence of his private quarters on the ship.

Meanwhile, captian Morse stood on the hanger deck watching the deck crew try and patch the holes in his wing caused by the cylon raider. They were peeling back pieces of metal and sticking new ones back on to the wing structures, no one knew when the fighter would have to be used again. Morse winced as one man took a sledgehammer to the wing in order to seperate a bent piece of metal from the flap controls that were vital when the craft was operating inside a planets atmosphere. There was still alot of work that had to be done on the fighter that had carried him through one of the more perilous missions he had ever undertaken.

Jack was experiencing the results of that mission in a different way, in front of him sat the complete results and analysis of both the opening space battle in which the _Koralev_ had been lost, and the following mission to destroy the aforementioned F-304. Jack was now left without a capital class ship, and had lost over half his fighter force. In fact, there were a mere twenty two fighters left in the fleet, and most of those had sustained damage of some kind. The repairs were underway, as were the repairs needed on the capital ships, excluding the Asgard weapon on the _Zeus_ which despite Thor's best efforts remained stubbornly broken. That piece of technology would have to wait until they returned to Atlantis. Turning the page, O'Neill looked at the kill stats of the fighter pilots and was suprised to see that amongst the living sat the first ace of the war.

Morse was walking back to his billet in the pilots quarters, which he found depressingly empty after the losses they had sustained. Along the was he was almost ambushed by a smaller man who worked on the bridge, "Sir." he called. Morse turned at the call, "General O'Neill wishes to see you immediately.". Morse nodded and took an elevator up to the desired level, reaching the door to the general's quarters he knocked.

Jack looked up from his written report at the muffled noise and called, "Enter.". Through his door strode captain Tom Morse, who saluted and stood in fornt of the desk in a very formal fashion. "Please sit down captain." Jack said, gesturing to the chair that was directly across form him.

"Thank you sir." Tom replied, taking the offered seat.

"Thats enough 'sirs' out of you." Jack said smiling, "After all, you just became a fighter ace.".

Tom's face reflected the shock he felt, but as his mind replayed the fights they had been in, he remembered each of his six kills. He also realized what this meant for his career and for te rest of the remaining fighter pilots. "I'm the first one?" he asked Jack.

"Yes you are, everyone is chasing you now." Jack answered good naturedly, referring to a pilots will to be known as the best, which right now was clearly Morse.

"I don't kow what to say sir." Morse stammered.

"Don't say anything captain, just go back to doing your job." Jack replied, gently reminding Morse to keep it in perspective.

"Thank you sir." Morse said, before saluting and walking from the room, leaving a smiling general O'Neill, trying to remember the last time he had ever been that uncomfortable in front of a superior officer.

**Atlantis:**

Dr. Elizabeth Weir sat in her office above the gate room, waiting for the return of the fleet. The reports had been filed an hour or so ago by general O'Neill, and the requested replacement fighters had been arriving through the gate all day. The new pilots had been given rooms until the fleet arrived, and they were currently taking a tour of the city. Atlantis itself had changed little since they had discovered it, there were still some wraith problems but with their increased understanding of Ancient technology, Weir's command had been able to drive them off. And for the moment at least, the wraith were content to fight it out with themselves over more fertile and less dangerous feeding grounds. Those prblems aside, Elizabeth was now stressing over the cylon threat, which by all reports would lead to a problem at least as serious as the wraith. Suddenly, the Stargate burst open again, and Weir was on her feet even before the shield had been brought up to block any incoming travellers.

"Its General Hammond." the gate specialist said as Weir entered the control room.

"General, good to hear from you." Elizabeth said over the radio.

"Elizabeth, I'm sending through the information you requested." Hammond replied in his texas twang.

"Thank you sir, the fleet should be back within the next few hours." Weir reported.

"I know, has O'Neill been informed of the changes in his fighter groups yet?" Hammond asked.

"No, as of this moment the new fighters have not been completely assembled. I thought it would be counterproductive to move the few operational F-302s we have left before we have any to replace them." Weir explained.

"Very well," Hammond replied, "see that those ships are ready for action." Hammond ordered before the Stargate shut down.

Weir turned to one of her subordinates, "Make sure that the new F-302s are ready for action before the fleet has to get underway again.". She recieved a slightly odd look from her subordiante due to the fact that the fleet had not even returned yet, but the man nodded and moved off to make sure that the order was followed regardless of how odd he thought it was worded. Walking back to her office, she noticed a flashing message on her computer. It was from General O'Neill, who reported as only he could, that the fleet would be back to Atlantis soon. Weir struggled to suppress a laugh at the antics of the general, and as her medical officer, Carson Beckett walked into the room with a questioning gaze, she wordlessly spun her laptop around to display the message.

Carson looked, and began smiling as well at the message that read: "Hi honey, be home soon."

**A/N: **Please review, all of the feedback I have recieved so far has been great.


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